Examines accounts of the 13th Dalai Lama's encounters with western diplomats and others at Wutai shan in 1908.

Description:Creator's Description: The Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s flight from Lhasa in 1904, his sojourn in Mongolia and his reception at the Qing court in Beijing are fairly well known. Less well studied is his stay at Wutai Shan in 1908. But that episode in his wanderings is particularly interesting. In examining it we come across a number of accounts in Tibetan and other languages that refer to the Dalai Lama’s encounters with western diplomats and others at Wutai Shan. These accounts cast light on the Dalai Lama’s developing understanding of the larger world of international politics and of his place within that world. They also provide insight into the way Wutai Shan, a Buddhist pilgrimage site, provided the Dalai Lama with an optimal place from which to entertain such contacts in an environment in which he was a figure of authority. (2011-12-31)